WHY YOU NEED TO BE IN OLYMPIA ON PRESIDENT’S DAY. TIME TO BREAK THE ADDICTION.
HAVE YOU BEEN KEEPING UP WITH developments in Olympia? Yesterday, the Democrats on the House Finance Committee voted to suspend Initiative 960, which requires a 2/3s vote to raise taxes, supposedly for a year. ( Any bets on whether they would really vote to reinstate next year? Don’t kid yourself. You are smarter than that. ). The hearing before the votes was full of personal stories and testimonies, the silliest of which was from state Representative Steve Kirby, who brings dishonor to the name we share by his economic ignorance. ” I need to help the little people in my district“, he said. In bad times, quoting the Seattle Times, everyone should ” reach into our pockets to do that.”.
Where do I start? Little people?? Reach into our pockets?? Representative Kirby, you are free to reach into your own pocket as much as you want, and I encourage that. But you are reaching into everyone’s pocket, including the pockets of the 10% unemployed and the struggling small business owners, and all of those who couldn’t come down to your hearing and cry. You are adding to their burden. If you all had not overspent and overcommitted during the good times, but put some away and not spent every dime and then some, we would have the resources we need now. This downturn does not just impact the little people, but everyone, and your well-intentioned but ignorant ways of helping will make matters worse.
Not only are the Democrat’s lifting the 2/3s requirement for a sales tax increase, but several have introduced HB 3183 which would raise the statewide sales tax by a full point, with a trigger to take it off when unemployment hits 5% for four continuous months. Of course, the increase in the tax will impede the ability for jobs to be created, though they claim that the tax will do just that. So, now, we raise taxes to lower unemployment? Where in the H#)) did these people study economics? BTW, this tax hike would make Washington #1 - that’s right, the highest sales tax in the nation.
In addition, bills have been introduced in the Legislature to raise cell phone taxes ( to the highest rate in the nation, another #1 rating), impose taxes on candy and bottled water, impose higher car tab fees for transit operations, increase water right application fees 500 to 1000%, impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies, and increase midwide license fees. ( Thank you Dori Monson). They just don’t get it, a recession with high unemployment is not the time for massive tax increases.
And, on top of all this, King County is discussing a .3 cent increase in the County sales tax for criminal justice. Add these up, and the sales tax is over 11% in restaurants and bars in King County. ELEVEN PERCENT!
Some liberals are starting to get it. Joni Balter of the Seattle Times in a column published Thursday raised some serious questions about spending and new taxes proposed by the Legislature. And Kate Riley, editorial columnist for the Times, someone I know and like, but disagree with on most issues ( she is a little too leftie for me ), said Friday in the paper, ” I’m not the only cranky taxpayer starting to lose patience with a governor and Democratic-controlled Legislature that knowingly approved unsustainable budgets. The overspending made the state extra vulnerable when the recession crashed in and state revenues dropped precipitously.”
Meanwhile, the Washington Policy Center reported Friday on their website that the state forecasts a 12% increase in revenue for the next biennium and a multi-billion dollar deficit. Read that again. A 12% increase in revenue, but still a multi-billion dollar deficit. My friends, that is a spending problem, pure and simple. Spending other people’s money, expanding government, refusing to be responsible, refusing to acknowledge the issue and look for answers besides more, these are the signs of addiction, a deadly addiction that the addict is helplessly in the throes of. It’s time you and I intervened for our future, for our kids and, for the little people.
JOIN US IN OLYMPIA, 10 AM, THE CAPITOL STEPS. BRING YOUR KIDS, YOUR PARENTS, YOUR CUSTOMERS, YOUR STUDENTS, BRING EVERYONE. IT’S TIME TO DRAW THE LINE AND JUST SAY NO. SEE YOU THERE.
ATTENTION!
THREE THINGS: I am sitting in for Lars Larson tomorrow on his national show, 3-6 PM Pacific. You can listen live by streaming at www.larslarson.com
#2 – Precinct caucuses for the GOP on Saturday Morning, 10 AM. Be there. Contact your local GOP county organization.
## – PUSH BACK NO TAX RALLY, 10 AM, Monday, President’s Day, 2/15, State Capitol steps in Olympia. I’ll be there, please join me!
POLLS, POLLS, AND THE PRESIDENT;GOOD NEWS FROM DC AND NY
RECENT POLLS SHOW THE CONTINUING slip in the President’s public support. The most recent Marist poll shows a 44-47% split on the approval/disapproval question about his policies in general. Independents by 2 to 1 disapprove. Those saying he has fallen below their expectations umber 47%. Only 7% say he has exceeded them. In the latest Gallup poll, he is underwater ( more disapproving than approving ) in 6 of 9 categories. The health care ( 36/60) snd economy ( 36-61) numbers are the most interesting. Among independents, his approval number on health care is 24% and on the economy is 29%. Rasmussen has a general 46/54 approve/disapprove number. And the latest IBD/TIPP poll shows the lowest confidence in Obama yet. Confidence in Federal economic policies is at 38%, and the number of swing voters approving his performance is 41%. Last year it was 72%.
THE MOST RECENT WASHNGTON POST-ABC poll shows ” the GOP’s overall gains are striking.”. One year ago, Democrats had a 26 point lead when asked who the public had confidence in dealing with major issues before Congress. That lead is now 6. After one month in office, Obama had a 35 point lead over Republicans when it came to handling the economy. That lead is now 5. And, on the generic preference question about who should control Congree, the Ds and Rs are now even, 46-46.
TUESDAY, THERE WAS A different kind of poll taken in New York State. Four special elections to fill vacancies in their state house. Republicans won 3 of 4, taking 2 seats from Democrats, one of which had been Democrat for 17 years.
WE KNOW ONE TYPE OF EMPLOYMENT WHERE there is no recession – the Federal government. Since December, 2007, the number of Federal employees who make more than $100,000 annually has grown from 262,163 to 382,758 as of last June.
A REPORT BY THE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING WORKSHOP at American University reveals that of the $2 billion of stimulus money spent on wind power, 80% of the money has gone to overseas firms, creating an estimated 6,000 jobs, with, at most, a few hundred jobs created domestically.
REMEMBER WHEN THE PRESIDENT HAD that press conference last year with the CEO of Caterpiller, saying if Congress passed his plan, the company would rehire some of the laid off folks? Then, the CEO said the day after, well, I really didn’t say that? Well, Caterpiller is still above water economically, but had to make serious cuts last year, including laying off 30,000 people. That’s right, 30,000. And just think what they could have done if Congress had passed his plan? What? You say they did? THEY DID?? What happened? Didn’t the CEO get the memo that all would be right of they did?
THE SUPER BOWL, GLOBAL WARMING, CLARK COUNTY AND A DARWIN AWARD
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SAINTS. I wanted the Colts but the better team won today. And the Who were pretty good.
WELL, GLOBAL WARMING THEORY has taken a few hits lately. The claim about Himalayan glaciers melting by 2035 we now know was wrong, based on anecdotes. The IPCC claimed in a recent report that the Netherlands were more than half below sea level, when it’s more like a quarter. The whole email scandal at the University of East Anglia. Then a claim that the Amazon rain forest could be wiped out by global warming was found to be based on a single magazine article written by two extremists. The Guardian, a leftist British newspaper has discovered that a series of readings from Chinese weather stations, were, well, in their words ’seriously flawed’. British Greenpeace has called for the resignation of the head of the IPCC. India has announced plans to leave the IPCC because it is no longer a source of reliable data. The glaciers may not be melting, but the support for the theory of man-made global warming being a threat to our survival certainly is.
And, let’s not forget the weekend storm that just dumped record amounts of snowfall around Washington DC. Between 18 and 38 inches were recorded in Maryland, DC, Virginia and parts of Pennsylvania. Just over a year ago, Robert Kennedy Jr said in a speech about the threat of global warming: ” In Virginia, the weather also has changed dramatically. ..Snow is so scarce today that most Virginia children probably don’t own a sled. …Once, my father, Atty Gen Robert Kennedy brought a delegation of visiting Eskimos home for lunch at our house. They spent the afternoon building a giant igloo in the deep snow in our backyard. My brothers and sisters played in the structure for several weeks before it began to melt…Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil and its carbon cronies continue to pour money into think tanks whose purpose is to deceive the American public into believeing global warming is a fantasy.” Looking at the pictures of this weekend in RFK Jrs neighborhood, and seeing that more snow is forecast for later in the week, all I can say is, what an idiot.
AND, A DARWIN AWARD for the gentleman who attempted to rob an armored car guard this morning in the south end. He apparently came up behind the guard as he was leaving a McDonalds with a money bag and attempted to knock him down and take the bag. He was shot several times and now is at Harborview in critical condition. His family was crying on TV about how it was unnecessary for the guard to shoot him. Had he not assaulted the guard, of course, this wouldn’t have happened. The last time we know of an attempted armored car robbery locally, the guard was killed during the attempt. I suspect that has made armored car company employees a bit anxious, shall we say, and understandably so. The guard did the right thing, the robber attempted the wrong thing. That’s really all there is to say. Thank God the guard is OK, and, if the criminal survives, he should find a better way to spend Sunday mornings.
LAST, BUT NOT LEAST, thanks to the Clark County GOP and their chairman, Ryan Hart, for inviting me to MC their Lincoln Day dinner last night. We had a great time and there were nearly 400 people in attendence. Senator Don Benton announced his intention to run against Patty Murray, they rasied a lot of money and heard a great speech by my old friend, Professor Mike Allen, from UW Tacoma and co-author of A Patriot’s History of the United States, a book you all should read.
DON’T FORGET – PRECINCT CAUCUSES SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13 and PUSH BACK – NO NEW TAXES RALLY MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 10 AM, ON THE STATE CAPITOL STEPS.
